Work flow management system

ABSTRACT

A work flow management system has circulation control functions for carrying out branching, queuing, dividing, broadcasting, recovering, holding and substitute of a circulation material in the work flow system that carries out at automatic sequential circulation of electronic information. Thus, a work requiring a complex circulation control can be done by an electronic system. The work flow management system includes a circulation material sending and receiving unit which has functions of entering, sending, receiving, referencing and updating a circulation material for the users who are the subscribers of the work flow system, the circulation material defining unit which defines a circulation destination and the circulation control for the users who manage the work flow, and the circulation material control unit which circulates a circulation material in accordance with circulation definitions defined by the circulation material defining unit.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 09/135,728, filed Aug.18, 1998; which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/531,652,filed Sep. 21, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,940,829.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a work flow management system, moreparticularly to a work flow management system for controlling a workflow of a circulation of electronic documents sent from a plurality ofsenders according to a predetermined route.

The Nikkei Computer magazine, No. 336, issued on May 2, 1994 on pages 57to 67, describes a work flow system which supports a work to be donejointly by a group of people. Further, the “The electronic mailcirculation method and the electronic mail circulation system” disclosedin the JP-A-4-77030 is known in the art. According to theabove-described work flow systems, source of generation of electronicdocuments is limited to only one place, and the systems are controlledsuch that a single document is circulated along a predetermined route.

According to the prior-art work flow systems, the source of generationof electronic documents is limited to only one place and a singledocument is circulated along a predetermined route. According to thesemethods, however, it has been difficult to apply the systems to acomplex work which involves a plurality of sources of generation ofelectronic documents in the work flow for one work and which requires acirculation of these electronic documents collectively or which requiresan allocated circulation of once-circulated electronic documents todifferent positions taking different job roles, etc. For example, asdescribed later as an embodiment of the present invention with referenceto FIG. 2, a complex work in the insurance assessment work involves anintegration of documents from a plurality of generation sources ofdocuments, such as application sheets from insurance applicants, medicalcertificates by doctors or investigation sheets by operators, andcirculation of these documents in one, and further a change ofassessment staff according to insurance amount and different proceduresto be taken between an approved case and a non-approved case as a resultof assessment.

It has been difficult to apply the conventional work flow systems to theabove-described works because of the lack of the following functions inthese systems.

(1) a function for defining a plurality of generation sources ofdocuments, or senders.

(2) a function for integrating electronic documents sent from aplurality of senders into one circulation material.

(3) a function for dividing one circulation material into a plurality ofcirculation materials.

(4) a function for circulating a circulation material by branching toone of a plurality of circulation destinations according to the value ofattribute records attached to the circulation material.

(5) a function for broadcasting a circulation material to a plurality ofcirculation destination and for recovering the broadcasted circulationmaterial.

(6) a function for controlling the timing of circulating of acirculation material according to time conditions.

(7) a function for changing circulation destinations according to timeconditions and status conditions.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the present invention to provide a work flowmanagement system which has the above-described control functions in awork flow system and which can cope with works having complex workflows.

In order to achieve the above object, a method according to the presentinvention for solving the above problems will be explained below.

A series of flow of electronic documents which is a circulation ofelectronic documents to a plurality of users to perform one work iscalled a work flow. When a process from an entry of an electronicdocument to an end of processing based on this work flow is handled asone work unit, this is called a transaction. According to the presentinvention, a work flow management system is provided which has a workflow defined and stored in advance in the storing unit and whichefficiently circulates circulation materials from a plurality ofcirculation materials based on a work flow management technique thatcontrols a sequential circulation of electronic documents from acirculation originator to circulation destinations by referring to thework flow definition. In order to achieve the above system, in the basicstructure of the present invention, a circulation material managementtable is provided corresponding to each electronic document, and controldata for showing a send request is linked with the circulation materialmanagement table and control data in a circulation tray is linked withthe circulation management table by link information respectively sothat the circulation is controlled by only changing the link informationeven if the circulation destinations are changed.

The operation of the above-described structure will be explained below.A relevant pointer between a send request queue, control data placed ona circulation tray and the circulation material management table isexpressed by an inter-object link function. With this arrangement, it ispossible to retrieve and update only the data which needs to be updatedand it is possible to achieve a high-speed circulation control.Particularly, in the case of circulating circulation materials sent froma plurality of senders to one circulation destination by integratingthese circulation materials together, it is possible to efficiently waitfor circulation materials by providing a separate management table whichis linked with the circulation material table that corresponds to eachelectronic document.

Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbecome apparent from the embodiments of the invention taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram for showing an example of the configuration of thework flow management system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram for showing work flow definition data.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for showing an internal structure of the data flowmanagement system.

FIGS. 4A and 4B are diagrams for showing examples of the entry ofcirculation materials from a plurality of entries.

FIGS. 5A and 5B are diagrams for showing examples of a branchprocessing.

FIGS. 6A and 6B are diagrams for showing examples of a queue processing.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are diagrams for showing examples of a divideprocessing.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are diagrams for showing examples of a broadcastingprocessing.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are diagrams for showing examples of a recoveryprocessing.

FIGS. 10A and 10B are diagrams for showing examples of a holdprocessing.

FIGS. 11A and 11B are diagrams for showing examples of a substituteprocessing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

One embodiment of the present invention will be explained below withreference to drawings.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the system configuration of the work flowmanagement system. The system includes a plurality of circulationmaterial sending and receiving units 101A, 101B, -, and 101N, acirculation material control unit 102, at least one circulation materialdefining unit 103, a LAN for mutually connecting the circulationmaterial defining units, and a network 201 such as a public network. Thecirculation material sending and receiving units 101A to 101N havefunctions for entering, sending, receiving, referring to and updating acirculation material, and this circulation material sending andreceiving unit 101 is used by subscriber users of the work flow. Thecirculation material defining unit 103 stores definitions of circulationdestinations and work flow definitions including circulation controldata, and sends the work flow definitions to the circulation materialcontrol unit 102. The work flow is defined in advance by the users andthe result is stored in the circulation destination defining unit 103.The circulation material control unit 102 has a function for actuallycirculation a circulation material according to a circulationdestination defined by the circulation destination defining unit 103. Adatabase 104 and a database 112 are connected to the circulationmaterial control unit 102. The database 104 stores circulation controldatabased on an object orientation, and the database 112 stores asubstance of the circulation material.

FIG. 2 shows examples of the work flow definition data stored in thecirculation material defining unit 103. The work flow definition data isthe data for defining circulation destinations and a method for acirculation as shown in FIG. 2. In FIG. 2, a round mark 301 designates acirculation material sending and receiving unit, a block 304 designatescirculation control data and an arrow mark 303 designates a circulationdestination. A circulation material is entered from the sending andreceiving unit 301 of “entry” The round mark 301 and the block 304 arecollectively called nodes. These nodes are differentially called acontrol node and a processing node when it is necessary to discriminatebetween the 301 and 304. A dynamic flow of a work from the entry of acirculation destination data to an end of the processing of thecirculation material based on the work flow definition data shown inFIG. 2 is a transaction. A technique of the work flow definition data isdisclosed in the U.S. applications being filed based on theabove-described Japanese Patent Application No. 6-226666, and thistechnique can be utilized.

FIG. 3 shows an example of the structure of the inside of the work flowmanagement system 102. The basic operation of the system will beexplained below with reference to FIG. 3.

(1) The circulation destination defining unit 103 stores the storedcirculation definition data 105 in the database 104 within thecirculation material control unit 102.

(2) When a circulation material has been entered to the circulationcontrol unit 102 from the circulation material sending unit 114 withinthe circulation material sending and receiving unit 101, the circulationmaterial control unit 102 registers the substance 113 of the circulationmaterial in the database 112 and produces the circulation materialmanagement table 109 for this circulation material in the database 104.In this case, a plurality of electronic documents can be handled as onecirculation material by linking the substance 113 of a plurality ofcirculation materials to one circulation material managing table 109.Further, the circulation material control unit 102 writes data forshowing a send request to a send request queue 106 which has been setwithin the database 104. The data for showing a send request includeslink information to the circulation material management table 109 sothat what circulation material relating to what circulation materialmanagement table should be sent is made clear. The circulation materialmanagement table 109 has been set with link information for indicatingthe substance 113 of the circulation material, information for showingfrom what node the circulation material has been entered and keyinformation for identifying the transaction. The node from which thecirculation material has been entered can be obtained from thecirculation definition data 105.

(3) The circulation material control unit 102 retrieves the send requestqueue 106 in a predetermined time interval and checks whether the sendrequested data has been registered in the send request queue 106. If thesend requested data has been registered in the send request queue, thecirculation material control unit 102 takes out the send request datefrom the send request queue 106, and retrieves the circulation materialmanagement table 109 linked to the link information attached to the sendrequest data. Next, the circulation material control unit 102 comparesthe node information within the corresponding circulation materialmanagement table 109 with the circulation definition data 105 anddetermines the node of the next circulation destination. When the nodeof the circulation destination is the processing node for showing thenext set circulation material sending and receiving unit 101, thecirculation material control unit 102 writes data for pointing thecorresponding circulation material management table 109 to a circulationmaterial tray 111 provided for each circulation material sending andreceiving unit 101. With this arrangement, the circulation material issent to the next circulation destination. Thereafter, the circulationmaterial control unit 102 updates the node information within thecirculation material management table 109 from the circulationoriginator node to the circulation destination node, and deletes thecorresponding send request data from the send request queue 106. Thus,the circulation control is finished. The circulation material controlunit 102 carries out the processing of the next send request data withinthe send request queue 106. When there is no send request data in thesend request queue 106, the circulation material control unit 102 waitsfor a send request from the circulation material sending and receivingunit 101.

(4) At the request from a user who operates the circulation materialsending and receiving unit 101, a circulation material receiving unit115 within the circulation material sending and receiving unit 101retrieves the circulation material tray 111 of the correspondingcirculation material sending and receiving unit 101. If there is data inthe tray, this means that a circulation material has reached the user.The circulation material receiving unit 115 retrieves the circulationmaterial management table 109 from the data in the tray and takes outthe circulation material from the database 112. The user refers to thetaken-out circulation material and updates the circulation material.

(5) The user finishes the operation of taking out the circulationmaterial, and does the following processing for sending the circulationmaterial to another circulation material sending and receiving unit 101.The user at first updates the substance 113 of the correspondingcirculation material on the database 112 and reflects the user'soperation result in the database 112. The circulation material sendingand receiving unit 101 deletes the data relating to the correspondingcirculation material from the circulation tray 111 and adds data forshowing a send request to the send request queue 106 in order to sendthe circulation material to the other circulation material sending andreceiving unit 101.

(6) As shown in (3) above, the circulation material control unit 102 isalways monitoring the send request queue 106, and the above operation ofthe (3), (4) and (5) is repeated so that a circulation material iscirculated.

Next, the operation of the work flow management system in the case ofthe circulating circulation materials entered from a plurality ofentries under the management of one transaction will be explained belowbased on procedure examples shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B. FIGS. 4A and 4Bshow procedures of a processing in the case when a circulation materialhas been entered from a plurality of entries. In order to show that acirculation material belongs to one transaction, the circulationmaterial sending and receiving unit 101 sets key information (called auser key) for identifying the transaction at the time of producing thecirculation material management table 109. FIG. 4A shows an example thata user key, tanaka01, has been set to a circulation material 506 and acirculation material 508, and a user key, sato01, has been set to acirculation material 505 and a circulation material 507. The circulationmaterial control unit 102 sets a transaction management table 108 formanaging the transaction. The circulation control unit 102 refers to auser key set to the circulation material management table 109 of theentered circulation material and checks whether the transactionmanagement table 108 having the same user key exists or not. If there isno transaction management table having the same user key, a newtransaction management table 108 is produced and the circulationmaterial management table 109 is linked to this new transactionmanagement table 108. It there exists a transaction management tablehaving the same user key, link information is set to this transactionmanagement table 108. With the above arrangement, it is possible tomanage in the database 104 the circulation material within the sametransaction.

FIG. 4B shows the case that a circulation materials have been enteredfrom an entry 1 (501) and an entry 2 (502) in the sequence of (1), (2),(3) and (4) respectively. When the circulation material 506 has beenentered from the entry 1 (501) at (1), a circulation material managementtable 510 is produced within the database 104. In this case, atransaction management table has not yet been produced. Therefore, atransaction management table 509 is produced unconditionally. When acirculation material 505 has been entered from the entrance 1 (501) at(2), a corresponding circulation material management table 511 isproduced. Thereafter, a transaction management table is retrieved, andexistence of a transaction management table of which user key matchesthe user key of the circulation material management table is checked.Since thee is no transaction management table of which user key matches,a new transaction management table 512 is produced. Next, when acirculation material 507 has been entered from the entry 2 (502) at (3),a circulation material management table 513 is produced similarly, and atransaction management table is retrieved. In this case, since thetransaction management table 512 having the same user key exists, linkinformation is set between the transaction management table 512 and thecirculation material management table 513. This is the same for the casewhere a circulation material 508 has been entered from the entry 2 (502)at (4).

A method for controlling a circulation material within the sametransaction will be explained below based on several examples ofprocessing.

The operation of the system for a branch processing will be explainedwith reference to FIGS. 5A and 5B. A “branching” refers to a changing ofa circulation destination based on an attribute added to the circulationmaterial. Attributes are set by the circulation material sending andreceiving unit 101 to an attribute storage area 608 provided within thecirculation material management table 607. In the node 1 (601), when auser has set a certain value (“completion” is set in this case) as anattribute of a circulation material and the user has circulated thiscirculation material, this attribute value is set to the attributestorage area 608 within the circulation material management table 607.The circulation material control unit 102 refers to the attributestorage area 608 of the circulation material management table 607 by thecontrol node 602 for branching which is the next circulationdestination. Based on the judgement of the value of the attribute, thecirculation material control unit 102 circulates the circulationmaterial to a circulation destination (node 2 (603) in this case) whichhas been defined in advance by the data flow definition. Thereafter, thenode information within the circulation material management table 607 isupdated from the node 1 (601) to the node 2 (603). Further, when theuser has set “incomplete” as an attribute of the circulation materialand circulated the circulation material, the circulation materialcontrol unit 102 circulates the circulation material to a node 3 (604).

The operation of the system for a queuing processing will be explainedbelow with reference to FIGS. 6A and 6B. A “queuing” refers to acollective circulation of a plurality of circulation materials to a nextcirculation destination. A first, a circulation material arrives at aqueuing node 703 from a node 1 (701). In this case, the circulationmaterial control unit 102 retrieves circulation material managementtables 709 and 710 to be linked from a transaction management table 708,and checks whether other circulation materials have been arrived or not.If all other circulation material management tables are in the queuingstate, other circulation materials are arriving. If not circulationmaterials have arrived yet (the case of (1)), the circulation materialcontrol unit 102 sets a flag for showing a queuing state in thecorresponding node, to the circulation management table 709. At (2),when a circulation material has reached a queuing node 703 from the node2 (702), the circulation material control unit 102 checks othercirculation materials in the same manner. In the case of (2), thee is acirculation material 705 which is being waited in the correspondingnode. Therefore, the circulation material control unit 102 adds acirculation material management table 711 for managing a plurality ofcirculation objects, to the higher order of the two circulation materialmanagement tables 709 and 710, and circulates the circulation materials705 and 706 to the node 3 (704). The new circulation material managementtable 711 is provided in order to facilitate the processing of aplurality of circulation materials as one circulation material. Thelatter is called a route circulation material.

The operation of the system for a divide processing will be explainedbelow with reference to FIGS. 7A and 7B. A “divide processing” refers toa processing of circulating circulation materials including a routecirculation material generated by a queuing processing to differentnodes by each circulation material. When circulation materials arecirculated from a node 1 (801) to a node 802 for carrying out adividing, the circulation material control unit 102 deletes a mastercirculation material management table 809 and directly links lower ordercirculation material management tables 810 and 811 to a transactionmanagement table 808. Thereafter, the circulation material control unit102 sets node names of the next circulation destinations 803 and 804 tocirculation material management tables 810 and 811 respectively, andcarries out the circulation. Thus, a divide processing of thecirculation materials can be achieved.

The operation of the system for a broadcasting processing will beexplained below with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B. A “broadcastingprocessing” refers to a processing of circulating the same circulationmaterial to a plurality of nodes in parallel. When a circulationmaterial has been circulated from a node 1 (901) to a node 902 for abroadcasting, the circulation material control unit 102 copies acirculation material management table 907 by the number of “the numberof nodes to be broadcasted minus one” and produces a circulationmaterial management table 908. The circulation material control unit 102sets node names of the next circulation destination 903 and 904 withinthe circulation material management tables 907 and 908 respectively andcarries out the circulation.

The operation of the system for recovering a circulation material willbe explained below with reference to FIGS. 9A and 9B. A “recovery of acirculation material” refers to a processing of a broadcastedcirculation material into one circulation material again. When acirculation material 1005 is circulated from a node 1 (1001) to a node1003 for recovering the circulation material, the circulation materialcontrol unit 102 retrieves circulation material tables 1007 and 1008linked from a transaction management table 1006, and checks whether allthe circulation materials to be recovered are staying in the recoverynode 1003. In other words, if other circulation material managementtables 1008 are in the recovery status, other circulation materials arestaying. In the case of (1), there is a circulation material managementtable 1008 for circulation materials not yet arrived in the recoverynode 1003. Therefore, the circulation material control unit 102 sets aflag for showing that the circulation materials are under recovery bythis node, to a circulation material management table 1007. When acirculation material has been circulated from a node 2 (1002) to thenode 1003 for recovering the circulation material, the circulationmaterial control unit 102 checks, in the same manner as in the case of(1), whether all the circulation materials to be recovered have arrivedor not. In the case of (2), all the circulation materials have alreadyarrived from other nodes. Therefore, the circulation material controlunit 102 deletes unnecessary circulation material management tables1008, and sets node names of the next circulation destinations andcarries out the circulation.

The operation of the system for a hold processing will be explainedbelow with reference to FIGS. 10A and 10B. A “holding of a circulationmaterial” refers to a processing of controlling a timing for circulatinga circulation material in accordance with time conditions. When acirculation material 1104 has been circulated from a node 1 (1101) to anode 1102 for holding the circulation material, the circulation materialcontrol unit 102 sets a flag for showing that the circulation materialis being held, to a circulation material management table 1106. Further,the circulation material control unit 102 sets link information of thecirculation material management table 1106 and wait conditions data, toa processing queue 1107. Thereafter, the circulation material controlunit 102 retrieves the processing queue 1107 in a predetermined intervaland checks time conditions. When the time conditions are satisfied, thecirculation material control unit 102 sets a node name of the nextcirculation destination 1103 to the circulation material managementtable 1106 and carries out the circulation.

The operation of the system for a substitute processing will beexplained below with reference to FIGS. 11A and 11B. A “substitute of acirculation material” refers to a changing of a circulation destinationaccording to time conditions and status conditions. When a substitute1204 has been assigned by a circulation definition of a node 1 (1201),the circulation material control unit 102 also registers in a processingqueue 1208 at the time of circulating a circulation material 1205 to thenode 1 (1201). In the same manner as in the case of the hold processing,the circulation material control unit 102 retrieves the processing queue1208 at every predetermined time period and judges the set conditions,If the conditions have been satisfied, the circulation material controlunit 102 changes the circulation destination to a substitute node 1203,and carries out the circulation. If the circulation material is to becirculated from the node 1 (1201) to the next node 2 (1202) before theconditions have not been satisfied, the circulation material controlunit 102 deletes data from the processing queue 1208, cancels theprocessing queue, and circulates the circulation material to the nextmode 1202. FIG. 11B shows a change in the database for circulationcontrol.

As explained above, according to the work flow management system of thepresent invention, the system has circulation control data within thedatabase and can have various functions of queuing, dividing,broadcasting, recovering, holding and substitute as the circulationcontrol processing. Accordingly, it is possible to automate a complexwork of the circulation control which it has been difficult to achieveby the prior-art techniques.

Further, since it is possible to achieve a correction of the circulationcontrol by storing the circulation material in the database and by onlychanging the circulation control data, re-entering or a transfer of thecirculation material is not actually required. Accordingly, it ispossible to reduce the processing time or overhead of the circulationcontrol.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic document forwarding control systemcomprising: a predefined computer including a pre-stored work flowdefinition for forwarding an electronic document forwarded from a sourceto a destination, a flow of said electronic document being such thatsaid electronic document is forwarded along a route coupling said sourceand said destination, said source and said destination each being aprocess included in said work flow definition, wherein said work flowdefinition includes at least two of a queuing process for queuingdocuments of circulation material until all documents of the circulationmaterial have arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of acirculation material so that each of the divided documents follow adifferent route, and a recovery process for recovering all documentsdivided from a circulation material so that the circulation materialagain includes all documents originated from the circulation material,and wherein said predefined computer executes processing based on saidpre-stored work flow definition.
 2. An electronic document forwardingcontrol system comprising: a predefined computer refers to a pre-storedwork flow definition which is defined as a forwarding of an electricdocument forwarded from a source to a destination in response to aforwarding request and forwards said electronic documents to saiddestination, wherein said work flow definition includes at least two ofa queuing process for queuing documents of circulation material untilall documents of the circulation material have arrived, a dividingprocess for dividing documents of a circulation material so that each ofthe divided documents follow a different route, and a recovery processfor recovering all documents divided from a circulation material so thatthe circulation material again includes all documents originated fromthe circulation material, and wherein said source and said destinationeach being a process included in said work flow definition.
 3. Anelectronic document forwarding control system comprising: a predefinedcomputer including a pre-stored work flow definition for forwarding aplurality of electronic documents from a source to a destination, a flowof said electronic documents being such that said electronic documentsare forwarded along a route coupling said source and said destination,said source and said destination each being a process included in saidwork flow definition, wherein said work flow definition includes atleast two of a queuing process for queuing documents of circulationmaterial until all documents of the circulation material have arrived, adividing process for dividing documents of a circulation material sothat each of the divided documents follow a different route, and arecovery process for recovering all documents divided from a circulationmaterial so that the circulation material again includes all documentsoriginated from the circulation material, and wherein said predefinedcomputer executes processing based on said pre-stored work flowdefinition.
 4. An electronic document forwarding control systemcomprising: a predefined computer refers to a pre-stored work flowdefinition which is defined an electric document forward from source toa destination in response to a forwarding request of said electronicdocuments from the source to ascertain that said electronic documentsare collected all together, selects a relevant destination and forwardssaid electronic documents to a relevant destination, wherein said workflow definition includes at least two of a queuing process for queuingdocuments of circulation material until all documents of the circulationmaterial have arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of acirculation material so that each of the divided documents follow adifferent route, and a recovery process for recovering all documentsdivided from a circulation material so that the circulation materialagain includes all documents originated from the circulation material,and wherein said source and said destination each being a processincluded in said work flow definition.
 5. An electronic documentforwarding control system comprising: a predefined computer having apre-stored work flow definition including an electronic documentforwarded from a source and a plurality of forwarding destinations, aflow of said electronic document being such that said electronicdocument is forwarded along routes coupling said source and saiddestination, said source and said destination each being a processincluded in said work flow definition, wherein said work flow definitionincludes at least two of a queuing process for queuing documents ofcirculation material until all documents of the circulation materialhave arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of a circulationmaterial so that each of the divided documents follow a different route,and a recovery process for recovering all documents divided from acirculation material so that the circulation material again includes alldocuments originated from the circulation material, and wherein saidpredefined computer executes processing based on said pre-stored workflow definition.
 6. An electronic forwarding control system comprising:a predefined computer which refers to a pre-stored work flow definitiondefining forwarding of an electronic document from a source to aplurality of forwarding destinations in response to a forwarding requestfrom the source to select a relevant one of said destinations, andforwards said electronic document to said relevant one destination,wherein said work flow definition includes at least two of a queuingprocess for queuing documents of circulation material until alldocuments of the circulation material have arrived, a dividing processfor dividing documents of a circulation material so that each of thedivided documents follow a different route, and a recovery process forrecovering all documents divided from a circulation material so that thecirculation material again includes all documents originated from thecirculation material, and wherein said source and said destination eachbeing a process included in said work flow definition.
 7. An electronicdocument forwarding control system comprising: a predefined computerhaving a pre-stored work flow definition including a plurality ofelectronic documents forwarded from a source and a plurality ofdestinations corresponding to respective ones of said electronicdocuments, a flow of said documents being such that said electronicdocuments are forwarded along routes coupling said source and saiddestinations, said source and said destinations each being a processincluded in said work flow definition, wherein said work flow definitionincludes at least two of a queuing process for queuing documents ofcirculation material until all documents of the circulation materialhave arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of a circulationmaterial so that the divided documents following a different route, anda recovery process for recovering all documents divided from acirculation material so that the circulation material again includes alldocuments originated from the circulation material, and wherein saidpredefined computer executes processing based on said pre-stored workflow definition.
 8. An electronic document forwarding control systemcomprising: a predefined computer which refers to a pre-stored work flowdefinition defining a forwarding of electronic documents forwarded froma source to a plurality of destinations in response to a forwardingrequest from said source to forward said electronic documents to thedestinations corresponding thereto, wherein said work flow definitionincludes at least two of a queuing process for queuing documents ofcirculation material until all documents of the circulation materialhave arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of a circulationmaterial so that each of the divided documents follow a different route,and a recovery process for recovering all documents divided from acirculation material so that the circulation material again includes alldocuments originated from the circulation material, and wherein saidsource and said destinations each being a process included in said workflow definition.
 9. An electronic document forwarding control systemcomprising: a predefined computer including a pre-stored work flowdefinition for forwarding at least an electronic document from at leasta source to a plurality of destinations, a flow of said electronicdocument being such that said electronic document is forwarded alongroutes coupling said source and said destinations, said source and saiddestination each being a process included in said work flow definition,wherein said work flow definition includes at least two of a queuingprocess for queuing documents of circulation material until alldocuments of the circulation material have arrived, a dividing processfor dividing documents of a circulation material so that each of thedivided documents follow a different route, and a recovery process forrecovering all documents divided from a circulation material so that thecirculation material again includes all documents originated from thecirculation material, and wherein said predefined computer executes aforwarding process based on said pre-stored work flow definition.
 10. Anelectronic document forwarding control system comprising: a predefinedcomputer including a pre-stored work flow definition including a timecondition for forwarding an electronic document from a source to adestination, a flow of said electronic document being such that saidelectronic document is forwarded along a route coupling said source andsaid destination, said source and said destination each being a processincluded in said work flow definition, wherein said work flow definitionincludes at least two of a queuing process for queuing documents ofcirculation material until all documents of the circulation materialhave arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of a circulationmaterial so that each of the divided documents follow a different route,and a recovery process for recovering all documents divided from acirculation material so that the circulation material again includes alldocuments originated from the circulation material, and wherein saidpredefined computer executes a forwarding process based on saidpre-stored work flow definition.
 11. An electronic document forwardingcontrol system comprising: a predefined computer which refers to apre-stored work flow definition which includes a time condition forforwarding an electronic document from a source to a destination inresponse to a forwarding request from said source when said timecondition is satisfied, and forwards said electronic document to saiddestination in response to the forwarding request when the timecondition has been satisfied, wherein said work flow definition includesat least two of a queuing process for queuing documents of circulationmaterial until all documents of the circulation material have arrived, adividing process for dividing documents of a circulation material sothat each of the divided documents follow a different route, and arecovery process for recovering all documents divided from a circulationmaterial so that the circulation material again includes all documentsoriginated from the circulation material, and wherein said source andsaid destination each being a process included in said work flowdefinition.
 12. An electronic document forwarding control systemcomprising: a predefined computer including a pre-stored work flowdefinition including a first destination of an electronic documentforwarded from a source, a second destination of an electronic documentin substitution of said first destination and a condition for changingthe destination of said electronic document from said first destinationto said second destination, a flow of said electronic document beingsuch that said electronic document is forwarded along a route couplingsaid source and said destination, said source and said destination eachbeing a process included in said work flow definition, wherein said workflow definition includes at least two of a queuing process for queuingdocuments of circulation material until all documents of the circulationmaterial have arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of acirculation material so that each of the divided documents follow adifferent route, and a recovery process for recovering all documentsdivided from a circulation material so that the circulation againincludes all documents originated from the circulation material, andwherein said predefined computer executes a forwarding process based onsaid pre-stored work flow definition.
 13. An electronic documentforwarding control system comprising: a predefined computer which refersto said pre-stored work flow definition in response to a forwardingrequest of said from a source, to refer to a condition before forwardingsaid electronic document to a first destination, and changes saiddestination of said electronic document from said first destination to asecond destination based on said condition, wherein said work flowdefinition includes at least two of a queuing process for queuingdocuments of circulation material until all documents of the circulationmaterial have arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of acirculation material so that each of the divided documents follow adifferent route, and a recovery process for recovering all documentsdivided from a circulation material so that the circulation materialagain includes all documents originated from the circulation material,and wherein said source and said destination each being a processincluded in said work flow definition.
 14. A computer program stored ona computer-readable storage medium for implementing an electronicdocument forwarding control operation using a predefined computer, saidcomputer program when executed causes said predefined computer toperform the steps of; providing in said predefined computer, a work flowdefinition for forwarding an electronic document from a source to adestination, a flow of said electronic document being such that saidelectronic document is forwarded along a route coupling said source andsaid destination, said source and said destination each being a processincluded in said work flow definition; and referring to said pre-storedwork flow definition in response to a forwarding request from the sourceto select a destination and forwarding said electronic document to saiddestination, wherein said work flow definition includes at least two ofa queuing process for queuing documents of circulation material untilall documents of the circulation material have arrived, a dividingprocess for dividing documents of a circulation material so that each ofthe divided documents following a different route, and a recoveryprocess for recovering all documents divided from a circulation materialso that the circulation material again includes all documents originatedfrom the circulation material.
 15. A method of controlling forwarding ofan electronic document comprising the steps of: providing in apredefined computer a pre-stored work flow definition for forwarding anelectronic document from a source to a destination, a flow of saidelectronic document being such that said electronic document isforwarded along a route coupling said source and said destination, saidsource and said destination each being a process included in said workflow definition; and referring to said pre-stored work flow definitionin response to a forwarding request of an electronic document from saidsource to select a destination and forward said electronic document tosaid destination, wherein said work flow definition includes at leasttwo of a queuing process for queuing documents of circulation materialuntil all documents of the circulation material have arrived, a dividingprocess for dividing documents of a circulation material so that each ofthe divided documents follow a different route, and a recovery processfor recovering all documents divided from a circulation material so thatthe circulation material again includes all documents originated fromthe circulation material.
 16. A method of controlling forwarding of anelectronic document comprising the steps of: providing in a predefinedcomputer a pre-stored work flow definition for forwarding a plurality ofelectronic documents from a source to a destination, a flow of saidelectronic documents being such that said electronic documents areforwarded along a route coupling said source and said destination, saidsource and said destination each being a process included in said workflow definition; and referring to said pre-stored work flow definitionin response to a forwarding request of said electronic documents fromsaid source to ascertain that said electronic document are all collectedtogether and select a relevant destination, and forward said electronicdocuments to said relevant destination, wherein said work flowdefinition includes at least two of a queuing process for queuingdocuments of circulation material until all documents of the circulationmaterial have arrived, a dividing process for dividing documents of acirculation material so that each of the divided documents follow adifferent route, and a recovery process for recovering all documentsdivided from a circulation material so that the circulation materialagain includes all documents originated from the circulation material.